Reversible book



March 6, 1951 J. H. SHEPHERD REVERSIBLE BOOK Filed April 21 1947 FIG. 2

FIG. 4

INVENTOR JOSEPH H. SHEPHERD ATTOR NEY Patented Mar. 6, 1951 UNITED. STATES PATENT OFFICE REVERSIBLE BOOK Joseph H. Shepherd, St. Louis, Mo. Application April 21, 1947, Serial No. 742,854

This invention relates to a reversible book, and is particularly applicable to picture books and story books for very small children. The principal feature of my book and its greatest novelty lie in the fact that it contains two stories, one of which begins at the cover on one side of the book, the other story beginning at the cover on the other side of the book, and one of. the stories is printed on one side of the leaves comprising the book while the other story is printed on the reverse side of said leaves, and by manipulating a sliding member on the outside of the book either of the stories is made available for reading on consecutive pages.

Another advantage of my book is that the leaves, when being read from either side of the book, have folded longitudinal edges instead of the cut edges of the ordinary book, which makes the book very sturdy" and greatly reduces the likelihood of the leaves being torn through rough 2 Claims. (Cl. 281-45) handling by small children. A still further advantage'of my book is that all of the leaves are formed from a single strip of material, thus eliminating the necessity of stitching or gluing to hold them together, and the construction of the book is such that the leaves and the covers also are held together without the stitching or gluing of ordinary binding, thus permitting a saving in the cost of time, material, and labor in producing the book.

In the drawing Fig. l is a perspective view of my book in partly open position preparatory to reading one of its stories.

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the book in part- 1y open position preparatory to reading the other of its stories.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged, cross-sectional view taken on the line 33, Fig. 1, showing the binding strip in position to permit reading of one of the stories.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged, cross-sectional view taken on the line 1-4, Fig. 2, showing the binding strip in position to permit reading of the other of the stories.

In the drawings I have shown the book as having two covers and but two leaves therebetween but it is to be understood that there may be as many leaves as desired without departing from the spirit of the invention.

The invention comprises two book covers 5 and 2, respectively, which do not at any point contact each other, nor is there any connection between them, such as the connecting member on the ordinary book on which the title and author's name are usually shown. Near its lefthand side the cover I has a shallow out 3 extending from its inner face a slight distance into the cover, and from top to bottom thereof. Near its righthand side the cover 2 has a similar shallow cut RI extending from its inner face a slight distance into said cover and from top to bottom thereof. The cuts 3 and 4 permit the covers to be folded back on lines 3' and 4, respectively, to open the book from either side.

A continuous strip of material, usually either heavy paper or cloth if the book is intended for Very small children, is folded upon itself at regular, predetermined intervals in zig-zag fashion, that is to say, in such a manner that the two surfaces of the material do not contact each other at anypoint, to form leaves 5 for the book, and each leaf will be of a double thickness of the material, as will be more clearly seen later in this description.

When the continuous strip of material has been folded thus to form pages of a size which is suitable to the size of the covers I and 2, all of the leaves 5 are placed between the covers and the entire assembly is held in engagement by a narrow, slidable, binding member 6 which 1ongitudinally surrounds the covers (Figs. 1 and 2). The cover I has at each of its four corners an oifset I extending respectively above and below said cover, and the cover 2 has at each of its four corners a similar offset 8, and these eight offsets act as stop members to prevent the binding member 6 from sliding completely ofi the book covers, thus preventing disengagement of the covers I and 2 and the leaves 5 therebetween. One free end 9 of the strip of material forming the leaves is turned back upon itself and securely fastened, preferably by pasting, to the inside surface of the book cover I, and the opposite free end of this strip of material is turned back upon itself and similarly fastened to the inside surface of the book cover 2, as shown in Figs. 3 and 4.

The book has now been assembled and is ready for use, and the procedure is as follows:

Suppose the book contains two stories, and the first of these, beginning at the book cover I, is to be read. The slidable binding member 6 is moved to the lefthand side of the book, as shown in Figs. 1 and 3, and the book cover 6 opens on the line 3' aspermitted by the cut 3, while the offsets I and 8 on the lefthand side of the book prevent the binding member 6 from sliding off. As the book is opened, the leaves 5 have folded, longitudinal, free edges II at the righthand side of the book, and folded, longitudinal edges i2 3 at the lefthand side thereof where they are held securely together between the covers by the binding member 6, and the surface I3 of the strip of material forming the leaves, on which surface the first story has been printed, is available for reading, all as shown clearly in Figs. 1 and 3.

Now suppose that the second of the two stories is to be read. The binding member 6 is slid to the righthand side of the book, where it i prevented fromsliding off by the offsets 1 and 8 on that side of the book. The second of the stories begins at the book cover 2, and this cover now opens on the line 4 as permitted by the cut 4. As the book opens, the leaves 5 now have their folded, longitudinal edges l2 free at the lefthand side of the book, while their folded, longitudinal edges H at the righthand side'are held securely together between the cover b the binding member 8, and the surface [4 of the material forming the leaves, on which surface the second story has been printed, is available for reading, all as shown clearly in Figs. 2 and 4.

From the above description it will be understood that the book is readable from either side, depending upon the position to which the slidable binding member 6 has been moved. While I have described the book as containing but two stories, there may, of course, be several stories printed consecutively from either side of the book, and also there may be a plurality of the double leaves without departing from the spirit of the invention.

I claim:

l. A reversible book comprising a pair of unconnected covers and leaves therebetween, said leaves being formed of a continuous strip of material so folded that each longitudinal edge of each leaf comprises a fold of said material, the free ends of said strip of material being respectively secured to one of said covers at opposite sides of said book and said leaves being so formed that the two surfaces of said material do not contact each other at anypoint in said book, a slidable binding member longitudinally surrounding said covers, said binding member being unanchored and transversely slidable to either side of said book to permit said book to be opened from the opposite side, stop members on said covers to prevent disengagement of said covers, leaves, and binding member, and means on the inner surfaces of said covers to facilitate opening of said covers.

2. A reversible book comprising a pair of unconnected covers and leaves therebetween, said leaves being formed of a continuous strip of material so folded that each longitudinal edge of each leaf comprises a fold of said material, the free end of said strip of material being respectively secured to one of said covers at opposite sides of said book and said leaves being so formed that the two surfaces of said material do not contact each other at any point in said book, a slidable binding member longitudinally surrounding said covers, said binding member being unanchored and transversely slidable to either side of said book to permit said book to be opened from the opposite side, and stop members on said covers to prevent disengagement of said covers, leaves, and binding member, each of said covers being provided on its inner surface with a cut to facilitate opening of said book and said cuts being positioned respectively at opposite sides of said book.

JOSEPH H. SHEPHERD.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number I Name Date 426,776 Conant Apr. 29, 1890 619,532 Bateman Feb. 14, 1899 1,053,464 Young Feb. 18, 1913 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 7,458 Great Britain 1. 1902 827,602 France Jan. 28, 1938 

